Profile For Shirley K.

Training runs complete and I'm home from my first month of running solo. Wow, what a ride!

For straight backing, the magic trick that helped me was "never let go of the wheel." I held the wheel at 3 and 9, turned a quarter turn toward the trouble the moment I got the slightest whiff of trailer drift, then back to straight as soon as it started correcting. By never letting go of the wheel, I quit "losing my place" as to where was straight on the wheel. For the guys who'd been doing it a while, having the steering wheel "straight" seemed to come without thinking, but I was really struggling with it.

I also found that talking out loud and telling the trailer what I wanted it to do helped. I'm not sure why but saying aloud "Ok, now you're drifting to the right. I am turning to the right and you're going to drift back left" seems to help me.

And definitely laugh at yourself and the situations. Sometimes the alleys in the alley dock backing exercises JUMP ALL OVER the place or have a force field around them :) You'll get it.

I've finished orientation at Con-way and am waiting on a finisher. In the meantime, I'm getting layover pay, a free private hotel room, and I have a weekend to go play in a new city! Life is great! I'm very impressed with Con-way so far, based on the organization of the orientation, interaction with other drivers and non-drivers who work here, and the overall package.

I'm rocking and ready to roll!

Brett, if you'd like to change the title of this thread to "Diver to Driver Metamorphosis", since that school has closed shop anyway, it would be great by me!

I've seen threads about this, but none that seemed conclusive for what I'm looking for....I would like a non-contract aircard/mobile hotspot option for on the truck. My phone/service provider (StraightTalk) doesn't allow me to use it as a hotspot. They offer a hotspot plan, but it is not good when roaming. Maybe that's the best I'll find, but I'm hoping for "everything everywhere you can get a signal with no commitment" sort of plan.

Your experiences?

It went very well !! My trainer was very helpful and very patient. 7500 miles will be over before you know it. I upgraded this weekend and the put me in a 2014 Freightliner Automatic. Im on my first run. Good luck in Joplin!!

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How did the finisher go? I'm heading to Joplin to start orientation on Monday and I'd love to hear more about what to expect.

Thank you! I just got to Joplin and I can't wait!

How did the finisher go? I'm heading to Joplin to start orientation on Monday and I'd love to hear more about what to expect.

Class complete. CDL class A with Tanker/Hazmat/Doubles/Triples. I start with Con-way on October 12.

It's been a busy few weeks. I passed the tests for hazmat, tanker, and double/triple endorsements, so those will go on my CDL as soon as I pass the PreTrip/Control Skills/Road tests in two weeks (fingers and toes crossed). Because of the new rule that doesn't allow our instructor to conduct our testing, we have to go another facility for the testing. It definitely adds some pressure to know that retesting won't be as simple as it sounds like it used to be when one could retest at the school grounds with the instructor as often as needed. I'm really hoping that my classmate and I will pass on the first try and the worry will be for naught.

I am surprised at how the backing has gone from "This trailer is possessed by demons and hates me!" to "Hmmm, I can kinda see where those tandems are gonna head and if I do this, they'll go there...probably" ;) Having plenty of time to just experiment with the backing really helped.

The road test really has me worried, just because of the seemingly long list of "automatic failure" items.

No pre-hire letters, but the Swift recruiter said "Just call me when you graduate and we'll put you in orientation." I'm not sure what I'm not doing or am doing wrong to not have gotten those letters I've heard so much about. Thoughts? Are the lack of pre-hire letters an indicator I will have a problem finding a job when I graduate? I have one ticket (speeding 5-9mph over the limit) and it doesn't show up on my MVR. I am honest about its existence though. I have a solid work history (worked 20 years for only two employers) and own my own business. No felonies, no arrests, no lawsuits, good credit rating, no physical disabilities (2 year DOT medical). Any suggestions are appreciated.

Week one of training complete. I'm exhausted but stoked. We've been doing long days of paperwork (logs and FMSCA studying), videos, and driving. The school has a half mile dirt track and two trucks. There are only three students in our class, so one of us has a truck to practice pre-trip while the other is practicing upshifting and/or backing with the third observing with the instructor and getting his insights. We've had a recruiter drop by already, and the mandatory online application we completed has generated for me individually 8 voicemails and about 30 emails already.

Our instructor is encouraging and providing additional training for hazmat, tanker, doubles/triples, and passenger endorsements. Even though we had a lot of driving time, our instructor has offered to stay late or come in on the weekends to give us as much extra time in the trucks as we want. If we don't pass our tests, it will be only due to our own lack of effort.

Back to studying for me, but wanted to update this thread. Drive safe, y'all!

I'd love to know what the TNT stands for, but haven't found it yet.